Fatality Narrative: Operator Crushed When Tractor and Sprayer Roll Over

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  A 58-year-old orchard laborer died when the tractor he was operating with an attached sprayer went down an embankment and rolled over, crushing him. The victim was using the tractor and attached sprayer to deliver a water and calcium solution to apple trees in his employer's orchard. The tractor was a narrow, open station tractor. He filled the sprayer tank at a solution mixing station then drove the tractor approximately a third of a mile to an orchard block where he began spraying. Over the next several hours, he made two trips back to the mixing station to refill the sprayer tank. At about 9:30 a.m. he began another trip back to the mixing station. He drove out of an orchard block and onto a gravel county road. As he was driving along a slight downhill section in the road, the tractor and sprayer went off the left side of the road, down an embankment, and rolled over. He was thrown from his seat and the tractor landed on top of him, fatally crushing him. Investigators found that the tractor had a foldable rollover protective structure (ROPS), or roll bar, but the operator did not have it in the "up" position as required. While driving on the road, the tractor did not meet the Washington State ROPS exemption allowed in orchards where height clearances would interfere with normal operations. Additionally, the tractor did not have a seatbelt. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Agriculture
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Occupational Exposure
  • Occupational Health
  • Risk Assessment
  • Risk Factors
  • Safety
  • Staff Development
• Keywords:
  • Tractors
  • Agriculture
  • Agricultural workers
  • Agricultural machinery
  • Equipment operators
  • Equipment operation
  • Equipment design
  • Rollover protective structures
  • ROPS
  • Employees
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056683
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-184-2019, 2019 Jul; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: operator crushed when tractor and sprayer roll over
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228921/cdc_228921_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 799.28 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:53a72162dc56645dac783b7e80e0e336995285937ee82d3cfb44b9e3d3de9f5e45da1a634cfd42f980a645db3422e3e5a35e36c04768c54fe9c35d0a9d966a26